


Baby Blue

by nhasablog



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Colors, Fluff, M/M, Soulmates, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 16:56:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16179284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nhasablog/pseuds/nhasablog
Summary: Jim sees the world in black and white - unless his soulmate is extremely happy or content, of course. Soulmate!AU





	Baby Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from an anon on tumblr. I hope you like it!

Jim grew up in a forest of black and white; meadows of ashy gray and trees of dark cream, with houses in various shades of a dull silver. Beautiful to those who never knew any better. The people had done a good job of giving the different versions of gray and white and black their own names. Jim’s mother’s hair leaden. Jim’s eyes oyster. The bruises on his body a dark black and nothing else. It was no wonder you thought you’d gone crazy the very first time you saw the world in color.

Seeing as you had no idea who your soulmate was and therefore couldn’t determine the age difference and if they were even born when you were, it was impossible to know when someone would see color for the first time. Sometimes, it happened when the person was still an infant, unable to comprehend, but very visibly shocked by the beauty of it all. Most babies were inconsolable after the world had gone monochromatic again, and no one could really blame them.

For Jim, it happened so early on he couldn’t remember it, and his entire life was a series of random colorful moments that would disappear almost as quickly as they’d come. It pleased him that his soulmate was out there, somewhere, happy and content at least from time to time. Their life had to be good for it to happen so often. Only true happiness brought color. Jim idly wondered if he’d ever brought his soulmate color.

The older he got, the duller his world became, in both color and quality, and by the time he left home both he and his soulmate were engulfed by a gray so constant it became depressing. It was somewhat comforting to know that he wasn’t alone in his suffering, but it was also a selfish thought, so he placed no value in it.

He met Pike on a night that was probably crimson red, but all he saw was black.

“You want your life to have a meaning?” he’d asked. “Just because it’s all black and white it doesn’t mean you have to act like it’s the end of the world.”

It was ridiculous how long it took him to realize who his actual soulmate was, but by the time he enrolled in Starfleet Academy and befriended Bones, his world was back to its occasional colorful state and he became way too interlaced with everything new to figure it out.

“It’s strange how we can see all those colors sometimes, yet have no name for them,” Jim said one day. People had named them, of course - those lucky folks whose soulmates had been happy for long enough for them to see everything clearly for a long time - but there was no way for people who mostly saw the world as monochromatic to learn all those various colors and shades.

“Have you ever seen your eye color?” Bones asked in response. They’d been together occasionally when the world became colorful, sometimes for them both at the same time, which was strange. Jim knew Bones’ eyes were dark, and he assumed his own were lighter, but he didn’t know the exact color (of course).

He shook his head. “Pretty, I hope.”

“I hate to inflate your ego, but they are.”

“Oh?” Jim leaned forward, narrowly spilling his drink over the table. “Please do elaborate.”

“I obviously don’t know the name of it,” Bones said. “But they were so piercing I almost felt like I could drown in them.”

“Well, they’ve always been a similar shade to water. You reckon it’s the same color? Some people have said that water is blue, whatever that is.”

“Maybe. I’ve read somewhere that water is technically entirely clear and colorless, but that it just looks blue in big amounts.”

“So my eyes are like pools.”

“Something like that.”

Jim felt his lips curl into a grin. “Bet you’d love to drown in them.”

Bones snorted, but Jim could see the hint of a smile on his mouth. “Keep dreaming, baby blue.”

A flicker of color, just then, giving Jim the perfect view of what Bones actually looked like. Dark hair. Lighter skin. Lips such a beautiful color Jim made a mental note to search up the term people used for lip colors. Spoiler alert, but there were a lot of them.

Jim rarely reacted during colorful moments anymore, but he couldn’t help but to recoil a bit. Eyebrows raised and a stunned smile. Enough to alert Bones to what was happening.

“You saw colors?”

“Uh huh.”

“What colors were my eyes?”

“A similar color to your hair.”

“Not blue, then. I’ve heard humans don’t have naturally blue hair.”

“Not blue, no.”

They glanced at their colorless drinks, and drank.

* * *

 

The way they figured it out was silly, and Jim wished there could’ve been a more profound moment they could share with people, but the truth was this. Bones, pinning Jim to the floor after he’d said one too many annoying things, his fingers everywhere they could reach as he tickled him to pieces. He’d known about Jim’s sensitivity for a while now, but it had been the first time he’d properly taken advantage of it.

Jim, laughing his head off and doing little to nothing to escape, opened his eyes to look at Bones during the very one sided tickle fight, and saw everything in bright colors. He shouted for Bones to stop when the colors didn’t fade.

“Did I hurt you?” Bones asked, alarmed since Jim never asked for mercy that violently.

“No, no, I just-” Jim started, panting. “The colors. They’ve never lasted this long. I just-” And, just like that, they started fading. “No,  _no_ , wait. Fuck.”

“You saw colors?” Bones demanded, not allowing Jim to grieve.

Jim nodded. “The world had never looked that bright before.”

“I saw colors too. Bright ones.”

Silence. Eyes wide.

“You like being tickled, don’t you?” Bones then asked, and Jim was certain his blush was visible even in black and white.

“Yes,” he admitted, voice low. “And you like tickling me.”

“I do.”

Realization.

“We’re fucking soulmates.”

Bones, usually the last person to show his glee, let out a laugh so joyous it sent Jim straight to heaven, and the world was in color again. “We fucking are.”

Later, once they got down from their highs, they would have to discuss what this meant. Were they romantic soulmates or platonic ones? How would this affect their friendship? Were either of them in love yet or would that come later?

Later, they would deal with all that. Now they were content in resuming their tickle fight, and Jim both adored and hated how he couldn’t deny liking this now. It was way too evident in the way Bones’ world looked different as Jim giggled beneath him, every nerve ending on edge.

At least Jim could tease Bones about liking this too, even if their roles weren’t the same, but Bones only said it was because he liked seeing Jim happy. Wrong thing to say because Jim then teased him about that, which led to more tickling. So, a win win scenario no matter what.

The next morning offered a colorful breakfast, both still too exalted for the world to go back to black and white. Even if it was physically impossible for you to see colors at all times, since no one could be that happy, it was true that the flickers became even more common once you found your soulmate. A contentedness came with the mere thought of having someone there, for you to keep and cherish. Just that gave the world a different shade.

“Let’s look up all the colors,” Jim said as they had their coffees. The liquid was a similar color to Bones’ hair and eyes, and Jim wanted to know what it was called. “Quickly before class starts.”

Settling down before the computed in their small living room - their couch was apparently a dark blue - they spent ten minutes looking through various websites that offered a vast description of colors, including examples. Jim had to admit these websites had meant nothing to him before he’d been able to see the colors himself, but now he couldn’t look away.

“You think I’d look good in yellow?”

Bones glanced at him, as if considering it. “It’d probably clash with your eyes, but at least it would match your hair.”

“My hair’s blonde. Apparently.”

“Same thing. You think I’d look good in blue?”

Jim smirked. “It would match my eyes.”

Bones snorted. “That’s not a proper answer.”

“Hey, I’m sure you’d look good in anything.” If they’d kissed, Jim might’ve added that he also probably looked good in nothing, but they hadn’t kissed yet, so he refrained. They still needed to talk about it.

They needed to talk about a lot of things, actually.

But for now they were content in just finishing their coffees and head off to class, knowing exactly what colors made up the other. And maybe, just maybe, they also knew what it felt like to hold the other’s hand. Slowly. Steadily.

Jim’s world was colorful for the rest of that week.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my [tumblr](http://nhasablog.tumblr.com)


End file.
